“Messiah
Is Saving Souls Indeed Offering Nurture!" (M.I.S.S.I.O.N)
By Ramesh
C.Reddy Pittsburgh Standard
Wednesday, June
28,
2006
Editors note:
This devotional is taken from the archives of Gospel of Mark, chapter 6.
Quiet
Times (Psalm 28, Mark 6:30)
"The
apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and
taught." (Mark 6:30, NIV)
Observation:
I asked myself what the apostles did.
-
The
apostles gathered around Jesus.
-
The
apostles reported to Jesus all they had done.
-
The
apostles reported to Jesus all they taught.
Interpretation:
I asked
myself the significance of knowing that the apostles gathered around Jesus.
The apostles had been on a tour
of six different towns, two going to each town as Jesus called them,
sent them, and gave them authority to cast out demons and heal people.
Now they are back and meet with Jesus. It was not any meeting though for
they came back to Jesus with a purpose to let Jesus know two things: All
they had done and all they taught.
They were called, sent, and
given authority to go on a mission trip and they returned to report the
events that transpired.
I asked
myself the significance of reporting to Jesus all they had done and
taught?
Whatever mission trip they were
on, they all converged at a central location to gather around Jesus to
give Jesus a status report. This is significant because after the
mission trip was over, they did not forget about the mission trip nor
did they keep to themselves what they had done and taught.
Instead, they shared everything with Jesus who had called them, sent
them, and given them authority over demons and authority to heal people.
In essence, they spent time in prayer sharing everything with Jesus.
They were enabled, equipped, and empowered by Jesus on their mission
trip. Now they are back with a status report.
Implications:
I saw important implications for my own life. I realized
the importance of status reports when we are called and sent on a
mission trip as the Lord gives us authority to do His work. He
accomplishes it by raising laborers to accomplish His mission of
reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I learned, sharing
about all that has been done or taught does not constitute boasting or
being prideful but letting supporters and prayer partners know how the
Lord has been using us for His honor and glory. It also lets our
supporters and prayer partners know that their support of the mission
trip has not been in vain and lets them know their prayers have been
answered and are being answered.
My mistake had been not sending
status reports to supporters and prayer partners as I should have. Since
they do not know how the Lord was using me to make a difference on
campus, how could they have effectively supported me and prayed for me!
This would have been possible through prayer letters. Maybe if I had
done that as I should have, I may have still been with InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship doing mission work on campus through IVCF. One day
if I feel called to go back to IVCF, He will make a way.
Right now, I strongly feel the
Lord wants me to continue to publish
www.pittsburghstandard.com for His honor and glory and continue to
reach out to students with the love of Christ through other means. The
daily devotionals I have and share with hundreds of students give you a
status report of what the Lord has been teaching me and what I have been
learning from Him. I do hope they help you!
The primary mission of Pittsburgh Standard is to glorify Christ on campus
by giving the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The secondary mission
of Pittsburgh Standard is to be an alternative source of news to the Pitt
News and the Tartan.
I need your prayers
for writers and the Lord
has been providing the financial support. I have been blessed with a
wonderful job that I love.
Recently,
couple of brothers and sisters from the Pittsburgh Chinese Church and
Oakland International Fellowship went on a missions trip to the United
Kingdom and returned back this past week. I am excited to hear about
their status report of what happened there! One of our pastors, Pastor
Hugo Chen was there with the missionary team. Their website is
www.pghchinesechurch.org/oif/oif-home.html
I ask you
now dear friend, what is your mission.
Dear friend, the apostles knew
what their mission was and came back to Jesus and gave Jesus a status
report. If you are called, sent, and given authority by the Lord to do
mission work, He will let you know what that mission is. Not all are
called to do direct missionary work in other countries but everyone is called to have a mission wherever they are
at whether it is at home, in a career, academia, or relationships.
If your mission is to accomplish
something in your career field, do the best you can there and remember
to share Jesus
with those around you and report the results to Jesus as you gather
around Jesus and spend time in prayer. If you have a hard time talking
to Jesus then write down your prayer to Jesus. If it is in academia or
relationships, the same principles apply. Share what the Lord has been
doing in your life and what the Lord has given you a mission in. For
when we seek the Lord, He will give each of us a mission for His honor
and glory. It may not be directly being a missionary to a certain part
of the world but right where you are at.
At one point my mission became
counseling broken hearts with the love of Christ! I have done that and
reported all that has happened without naming names for confidential
purposes. I would talk to Jesus about the situations too where I would
name names to Jesus personally. It is still a mission of mine the Lord
has not taken away but is now accomplished through other means too!
Usually, supporters and prayer
partners get letters or status report from missionaries spreading the
Gospel of Jesus Christ in different parts of the world or even on
campuses but it does not have to be limited to that when we give a
status report to the Lord about our lives.
Friend, Jesus wants to know what
you are doing with the mission He has given you. If you do not know your
mission, ask the Lord and He will reveal it to you as you spend time
with Him in prayer, in His Word, and through the fellowship of
believers. Mostly, I have seen the Lord speak to me through His Word as
I have spent time in prayer whether the answer has come through
circumstances, signs, or dreams. Let His Word guide you and lead you
whatever you feel your mission is.
“But I
will call upon the Lord to save me---and he will. I will pray morning,
noon, and night, pleading aloud with God; and he will hear and answer.”
(Psalm 55:16-17, TLB)
“Give your
burdens to the Lord. He will carry them. He will not permit the godly to
slip or fall.” (Psalm 55:22, TLB)
Talk to the Lord about your life
during the morning, noon, and night, pleading aloud with God and He will
hear and answer. He wants to carry your burdens. He will not permit the
godly to slip or fall.
Prayer is Wonderful, Prayer
is Powerful
By Ramesh C. Reddy
Prayer is wonderful; prayer
is powerful
Prayer is wonderful; prayer is powerful
More of prayer in my life
In the morning time;
I will pray to you my Jesus
In the noon time;
I will pray to you my Jesus
In the night time;
I will pray to you my Jesus
For you hear and answer!
Prayer is wonderful; prayer
is powerful
Prayer is wonderful; prayer is powerful
More of prayer in my life.
Amen!
Friend, also know your loved
ones and those praying for you love to know what is happening in your
life and how they can help you. Let them help you and receive their
help. Share with them what you feel the Lord wants you to share with
them and ask them to keep you in prayer. More than anything, it is
prayer to the Lord that sustains us and keeps us going.
With this in mind, please keep
me in prayer so I can continue with the mission of counseling broken
hearts with the love of Christ through all the experiences the Lord has
let me go through and continue to experience. More than anything please
pray that I will continue to do the Lord’s will and not what I want in
any area of my life but what my Lord wants for me whether it is in
career, academia, relationships, etc. Please pray for those you come in
contact with too! Thank you so much! Please keep the Pennsylvania
Governors School of International Studies Class of 2006 in prayer as I
serve them this summer including Upward Bound to have opportunities for
ministry.
May you know the Lord who calls
you, sends you and gives you authority will equip, enable, and empower
you as you accomplish His mission for your life! Amen!
“Messiah
Is Saving Souls Indeed Offering Nurture!” (M.I.S.S.I.O.N)/”What
is your mission?”
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, thank you so much for being our Redeemer, for calling us,
sending us, and giving us authority to accomplish the mission you have
for us. I want to thank you Lord for what your apostles were able to
accomplish and report back to you. They shared with you all that
happened. Help us to do the same in our lives no matter what is
happening. Let us share with you our excitement and our disappointments.
I thank you Jesus for being there to listen to us. You Oh Lord want us
to seek you in the morning, noon, and night at all times laying our
requests before you, for you want our burdens to carry them. Thank you
so much Jesus for that, for it means a lot. Help us to be open to share
with others what you have called us to do in your timing. Help us not to
be lone-ranger Christians but be involved in a community of believers
wherever you send us to for there is a reason you do not want us to
forsake the fellowship of believers. I thank you Jesus for sending
missionaries across the world to give people the Good News of your
saving Gospel. Thank you Lord for the report I have been able to read
about how you are using student missionaries to reach souls with your
love Oh Lord in India especially close to where I am from. Thank you for
the reports that come from all over about your work being accomplished!
We trust in you and thank you for everything. Thank you for your love
and affection. Help us to be diligent in sharing prayer letters with
others and most of all sharing everything with you! Thank you so much
Jesus for everything! Thank you for dying for our sin and coming back to
life to save us. Thank you for sending your Spirit till the work is done
here on earth. We entrust our lives to you Jesus, God’s own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, and Holy One. Jesus, my Redeemer and Name
above all names, you are the hope for sinners. Thank you so much Jesus!
We acknowledge you as our Lord and Personal Savior depending on you for
help! Thank you for your help and that you have heard our prayers and
answered us! In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
If
you would like to invite Jesus Christ into your heart and make Him a
daily part of your life, you can this very moment. You will never be
alone. You can claim God's promises for you in the Bible and see them
come true, before your eyes, in His wonderful timing. You don't have to
wait for a special time to come to the Lord. You can come right now as
you pray this prayer, meaning it in your heart.
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, I am a sinner Lord. I am so sorry for
my sins. I confess my sins to you. I confess the wrong things I have
done and messed up my own life. I need you Lord right now and in the
years to come. I have gone my own way and have not found what only you
can give me. You alone have the words of Eternal Life. You alone love me
unconditionally for who I am. I thank you Jesus. I accept you Jesus into
my heart. Thanks Jesus for coming into my heart. Thanks for forgiving me
of all my sins. Thanks for giving me a new identity in you. I
acknowledge you as my Lord and Personal Savior as I believe in my heart
that you died and came back to life to save me now and forever. I give
myself to you and ask you to be in control of my life. Thank you Jesus
through the days, we can do things together. Thanks for being my
Lord and Personal Savior. Thank you Jesus you have heard my prayer and
answered me. Thanks Jesus for changing me and helping me through life's
storms and winds. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
Friend you may feel something
or may not feeling anything but do not go by your feelings. When you ask
Jesus to come into your life, He will and does. He will take over from
here as you depend on the Lord and let Him work in you and through you!
This is exciting friend! May each one that came to know Jesus be filled
with His Holy Spirit forever more and those that know Jesus come to know
Him more and more! Amen!
Get yourself involved in a campus Bible study,
fellowship, and most of all find a Bible believing church and be involved
to grow in your Christian walk with the Lord. They all need to be
supplements for your own precious time with the Lord in prayer and
meditating on His Word. If you need a Bible, please let me know!
As the movie DaVinci Code opened across the
theaters on May 19, 2006, which speaks against the church and most importantly
degrades the Name of Jesus Christ, we need to make ourselves available to
speak the truth to the falsity presented in the movie and the novel. If you
plan to watch the movie or have read the book and have questions or your
faith seems to be shaken, please email me or give me a call at 412-720-4579
so we can discuss the false claims in the book that are presented as fact
even though the book itself and the movie is presented as fiction. May the
Lord bless you and guide you!
If you need anyone to talk to, pray
with, or study the Bible with this Spring or Summer of 2006, you can email
me at reddy4hisglory2004@yahoo.com or call me at 412-720-4579.
Please do not hesitate. One-one Bible studies
can be so powerful to because the Holy Spirit is still in the
midst.
"This is my work and I can do it
only because Christ's mighty energy is at work within me." (Colossians
1:29, TLB)
Express Your
View
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SEPTEMBER 2005
MARK: CHAPTER
1
How
seriously do you T.E.S.T.I.F.Y to prophecy? (Sept 01, 05)
Who do you P.O.I.N.T to?
(Sept
02.05)
"Will
you take a S.T.A.N.D?" (Sept 03.05)
How
is your loving P.R.A.I.S.E? (Sept
06.05)
"How
do you handle T.E.M.P.T.A.T.I.O.N?" (Sept
07.05)
"Who
controls your T.I.M.E?" (Sept 08, 05)
"What
kind of P.R.O.F.E.S.S.I.O.N are you in?" (Sept 09,
05)
"Whose
T.E.A.C.H.I.N.G.S do you listen to?" (Sept 12,
05)
"What
C.A.P.T.I.V.I.T.Y are you facing today?" (Sept 15,
05)
"Where
do you need H.E.A.L.I.N.G?" (Sept 19,
05)
"Where
do you need an A.N.S.W.E.R?" (Sept 20,
05)
"Where
do you find S.O.L.I.T.A.R.Y time with the
Lord?"
(Sept 21,
05)
"Where
do you want to be C.L.E.A.N?" (Sept 22, 05)
"What do you actions C.A.U.S.E?" (Sept 24,05)
MARK: CHAPTER 2
"What
kind of F.R.I.E.N.D are you?" (Sept 26,
05)
"Where
does P.A.R.A.L.Y.S.I.S take hold of you?" (Sept 28,
05)
"What
are you thinking in your M.I.N.D?" (Sept 29,
05)
"What
do you represent by your A.C.T.I.O.N.S?" (Sept 30, 05)
OCTOBER 2005
"Where
do you look for A.C.C.E.P.T.A.N.C.E?" (Oct 04, 05)
"Who Do You I.N.V.I.T.E?" (Oct 05,05)
When do you F.A.S.T?
(Oct 24, 05)
How do you see your L.I.F.E?
(Oct 25,05)
"What kind of L.E.A.D.E.R are you?" (Oct
26,05)
"What does the S.A.B.B.A.T.H mean to you?" (Oct
27,05)
MARK: CHAPTER 3
What
are your N.E.E.D.S? (Oct 28, 05)
NOVEMBER 2005
What is your I.M.P.A.C.T? (Nov
01,05)
What
S.P.A.C.E do you give yourself?
(Nov 07,
05)
"What
has E.V.I.L done to you?" (Nov 08, 05)
"How
is your R.E.L.A.T.I.O.N.S.H.I.P with Jesus?"
(Nov
14,05)
"Who
will give God T.H.A.N.K.S.G.I.V.I.N.G because of you?" (Nov 25, 05) (Taken from Gospel of Luke)
"Where
is your A.P.P.O.I.N.T.M.E.N.T in?" (Nov 29, 05)
DECEMBER 2005
"Where do you G.A.T.H.E.R?" (Dec 01, 05)
"How are your actions seen by your
F.A.M.I.L.Y?" (Dec
02, 05)
"How
do you handle S.L.A.N.D.E.R?"
(Dec 03.05)
"What is your V.I.E.W of Jesus?"
(Dec 28,
05)
"What are you doing with G.O.D.'S W.I L.L?" (Dec
31,05)
JANUARY 2006
MARK: CHAPTER
4
"What do the P.A.R.A.B.L.E.S mean to you?" (Jan 04, 06)
"What kind of F.O.O.T.B.A.L.L receiver will you be for
Jesus?" (Jan 05, 06)
"How is your W.A.L.K with God?" (Jan 17,
06)
"What kind of L.A.M.P are you?" (Jan 18, 06)
"What do you C.O.N.C.E.A.L?"
(Jan 25, 06)
"What do you do with what you H.E.A.R?" (Jan 26, 06)
"What do you do with the W.O.R.D of God?"(Jan 30, 06)
"What
will you do with the S.E.E.D?"
(Jan 31,06)
FEBRUARY 2006
"What kind of F.O.O.T.B.A.L.L receiver will you be for
Jesus?" (Feb 05, 06)
MARCH 2006
"What kind of S.T.O.R.M.S are you facing?" (March 11, 06)
APRIL 2006
"What does P.A.S.S.O.V.E.R C.R.O.S.S mean to
you?"
(April 13,
06)
MAY
2006
"What
kind of P.R.O.F.E.S.S.I.O.N are you in?" (May 01,
06)
MARK: CHAPTER 5
"Where
is your T.O.R.M.E.N.T coming from?" (May 15,
06)
"Where
do you need H.E.A.L.I.N.G?" (May 16,
06)
"What
do people R.E.P.O.R.T about you?" (May 17,
06)
"Are you A.F.R.A.I.D of Jesus too?"
(May 18, 06)
"Will you T.E.L.L about Jesus?"
(May 19, 06)
"What do you do with your T.E.S.T.I.M.O.N.Y?"
(May 20, 06)
"Will you G.A.T.H.E.R before Jesus?"
(May 22, 06)
"What place do you give P.R.A.Y.E.R
in your life? " (May 23, 06)
"Where do you feel U.N.C.L.E.A.N?"
(May 24, 06)
"Where do you need F.R.E.E.D.O.M?"
(May 25, 06)
"Who's T.I.M.I.N.G are you following?"
(May 27, 06)
MARK: CHAPTER 6
"Where do you seek W.I.S.D.O.M, in Jesus of the Bible or Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code?"
(May 29,
06)
"What
is your C.A.L.L.I.N.G?"
(May 30, 06)
"Where is your I.D.E.N.T.I.T.Y?"
(May 31, 06)
JUNE 2006
"Do you feel A.C.C.E.P.T.E.D?"
(June 01, 06)
"How is your F.A.I.T.H?"
(June 03, 06)
"What do you T.E.A.C.H?" (June 05, 06)
"Where are you S.E.N.T?"
(June 09, 06)
"Where are you S.T.A.Y.I.N.G?"
(June 10, 06)
"How is your Spiritual H.E.A.L.T.H?"
(June 12, 06)
"What have people H.E.A.R.D about you?"
(June 20, 06)
"What do you T.H.I.N.K about Jesus?"
(June 21, 06)
"How do you handle D.O.U.B.T.S?"
(June 22, 06)
When do you S.P.E.A.K out?"
(June 24, 06)
"What has P.R.I.D.E done to you?"
(June 27, 06)
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